Praise for plan to fix snarl at roundabout

Alex de Vos
A community association has praised authorities’ plan to fix the Bellarine Peninsula’s worst traffic snarl.
Drysdale Community Association’s Roger Lavingdale said he was “definitely happy” with Vicroads and City of Greater Geelong’s plan to duplicate the eastern approach to the intersection of Geelong-Portarlington, Jetty and Grubb roads.
But he called the plan, revealed in last Friday’s Independent, a “Band-Aid solution”.
“I think the plan they have drawn up is quite alright but they need to address the problem in the long term,” Mr Lavingdale said.
“But we’re definitely happy about it. The traffic banked up at the roundabout is just crazy.
“This morning it took me 27 minutes to get from my house through the roundabout.”
Mr Lavingdale urged Vicroads and the City to “get moving”.
“As soon as they get going, the better.”
Vicroads south-western region acting regional director Tony Hedley told the Independent last week that the duplication of the Geelong –Portarlington Road eastern approach would “improve the efficiency of the roundabout”.
The project would provide a seamless link between the east and west approaches to the roundabout because the Geelong side was already duplicated, Mr Hedley said.
However, the authorities could not put a timeframe on the project because they had yet to secure funding.
“Proposals for improvement projects must be considered and prioritised on a statewide basis and are considered in this context,” Mr Hedley said.
The Independent reported in March that motorists labelled the roundabout “the worst traffic bottleneck on the Bellarine Peninsula”.
The report revealed Vicroads and City of Greater Geelong were studying options to fix the intersection.
Between 8am and 9am on weekdays cars, trucks, school buses and bikes congest the roads leading to the roundabout, with motorists often banked up for kilometres.
They must negotiate the intersection to reach Geelong from Clifton Springs, Drysdale, Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards.